James W. Sire (Ph.D., University of Missouri), formerly a senior editor at InterVarsity Press, is a frequent guest lecturer at colleges and universities in the United States and Europe. He has written many books and Bible studies, most of which are available from IVP. The current title under review attempts to demonstrate how the psalms that relate closely to the mission of Jesus can also become our answering speech. The central thesis of this book is that the psalms give us insight into God himself. Indeed, through the psalms we come to know both who God is, and who we are. The studies in this book continue the method first set forth by Sire in his Learning to Pray Through the Psalms. In the course of these pages, Sire pointedly examines nine different psalms, their relation to Jesus, and their fulfillment in Jesus. Sire lists five different goals in relation to this book, all of which are laudable: to learn what the psalms say about prayer, to learn to pray the psalmist’s words, to develop corporate prayer from the psalms, to explicate more fully the heart of Jesus as he prayed the psalms, and to suggest how by praying the psalms of Jesus, one can gain insight into humanity of our Lord.

Sire makes a bold assertion that every psalm is a psalm of Jesus (10), as each one of them undoubtedly was filtered through his mind via training in his youth. In fact, he is recorded as using the psalms more than any other Old Testament book. It’s not surprising, then, that at key moments in his life on earth, Jesus of Nazareth turned to the psalms for words to express his deepest thoughts and emotions. Fortunately for us, in the psalms, we too have a voice from eternity (12). As Sire acknowledges, it is not hard to foresee Jesus, his mind and heart saturated with the words and thoughts of the psalms, going off early in the morning to pray. In so doing, they became his answering speech to his heavenly Father. Sire forthrightly states that his desire for his readers is to inculcate the psalms Jesus used into their lives as well, making the psalms their answering speech back unto God.

Sire begins the journey into the mind of Christ by immersing readers into several psalms which Jesus himself refers to and fulfills (e.g. 22, 110, 118, 2, and 69). Within the second half of the book, entitled ‘The Psalms in Jesus’, several psalms that Jesus would have meditated upon are examined. The psalms in the second half of the book, though not typically considered messianic in orientation, all focus upon the heart and mind of Jesus (e.g. 29, 23, 45, and 80). Structural analysis of each psalm helps the reader to grow in their ability to read the Psalms. The guided personal prayer liturgy included within each chapter helps one go deeper in the experience of praying the Psalms.

Graham A. Cole is professor of biblical and systematic theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL. He is an ordained Anglican minister, and has written several other books regarding Evangelical theology. This book is an addition to Crossway’s Foundations of Evangelical Theology series, and discusses the role of the Holy Spirit within Evangelical doctrine. Cole is an ardent Trinitarian theologian and offers here one of the most definitive treatments of pneumatology available today. Cole approaches this from a solidly Reformed theology, but he is notably ecumenical in his treatments of contentious issues regarding pneumatology. Authors from both the Eastern and Western traditions are covered, and at the end of each chapter many questions for our generation are raised and various implications to pneumatology are highlighted. So then, the book is practical and well-written. Taking this ecumenical approach allows the reader to gain a better understanding of the differences for him/herself, and thus enables them to become better theologians. The book is thoroughly biblically-based (Cole admits to a high view of Scripture in the introduction, calling it the “norming norm,” whereas tradition, experience and reason are “ruled norms”), and is illuminated by theological reflections on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. In engaging theology, Cole brings Basil of Caesarea, Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, Barth and Moltmann to bear on issues of pneumatology.

Cole demonstrates an evidence-based approach to theology within this book in that he engages information bearing on the truth of falsity of a proposition. Cole invokes Bonhoeffer in stating that we must learn to know the Scriptures once again, for they are the basis of our evidence for forming a doctrine of the Spirit. Cole acknowledges four distinct periods of Pneumatological discussion, to which I would a fifth. First, Cole recognizes the Patristic era, which was concerned with the ontology (derivation of, i.e.) the Spirit. Second, Cole recognizes the Medieval period, which saw the schism between the Eastern and Western branches of the church in due part to the doctrine of the Spirit’s ontology. Third, Cole recognizes the Reformation period, in which more emphasis was given to the works of the Spirit over the ontology of the Spirit. Fourth, Cole notes that the Modern period, characterized by Whitefield and Wesley, highlighted the Spirit’s role in regeneration and sanctification. The fifth period, which Cole does not directly indicate but does peripherally allude to, is what I refer to as the Post-modern period, in which pneumatology is beginning to be seen as the avenue to engage a theology of religions (reference Amos Yong’s groundbreaking work in Beyond The Impasse).

In the first part of Cole’s book, he addresses the mystery of the Spirit. Also within this first part of the book, Cole examines the personhood of the Spirit, the deity of the Spirit, and the relation of the Spirit to the Godhead. In the second part of this book, Cole turns from the person of the Spirit to the works of the Spirit, for, as Cole indicates, operation follows being. So then, Cole agrees with the notion that what can be said of the work of the Spirit is predicated on what can be said of the person of the Spirit. In this second part, Cole explicitly interacts with the Old Testament, and derives from it what can be predicated to the Spirit (though he acknowledges that the writers of the OT were not “Trinitarian” per se). In the third part of this book, Cole turns his attention to the New Testament, and continues to explore the work(s) of the Spirit. In this third part, Cole highlights the Spirit’s empowering Jesus as Messiah, the role of the Spirit in the life of God’s people, and the role of the Spirit in fostering community amongst God’s people.

Ben Witherington III is a Professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary, as well as St. Andrews University. In this text, Witherington addresses the issue that every pastor – whether knowingly or not – has a great stake in: the art of persuasion. The mastery of rhetoric by a pastor is not simply an option, but is a necessity instead. After all, all preachers desire to influence their followers to move from where they are to where God wants them to be. It would be wise, then, to peer into what Witherington has to offer us within this text, and we shall do so in what follows.

This brief guidebook explores rhetorical analysis with reference to various parts of the NT and is composed of eight chapters. In the first, Witherington reviews the oral cultures of the biblical world. Interestingly, he notes the power of speech – and of rhetoric – in this culture, especially in light of the fact the less than 20% of the congregants composing any given church were literate. Additionally, he highlights five elements of rhetorical discourse: first, the exordium, which makes the audience more open to the material that follows; second, the narratio, which is an explanation of the content of the discussion; third, the proposition – i.e. the thesis statement; fourth, the probatio, which is the enumeration of the arguments in favor of the proposition; and fifth, the peroration – i.e. the summary of the major arguments.

Cover from the 2022 Second Edition.

Chapter two seeks to define the craft of persuasion, which may singularly be the most important chapter in this title. Chapters three through seven explore the art of rhetoric within the NT, addressing in turn the Gospels of Mark and Luke (which he identifies as gospels of persuasion), Acts (deliberative rhetoric), Paul in general (borrowing much from a previous title of his, The Paul Quest), and then explicates Paul’s method of rhetoric in the pastoral (law-like rhetoric) and general epistles (deliberative rhetoric), respectively. The final chapter accentuates the import of rhetoric in all of the NT, with particular reference to the contemporary art of interpretation.

All in all, this title gives a good unifying thread with which to examine the individual socio-rhetorical commentaries of various NT books that Witherington has previously produced. While probably highly useful for academic courses in NT exegesis, one would also be wise to have this text on their desk when preparing both sermonic material, as well as various teaching units.

Reviewed by Bradford McCall

Publisher’s page for the 2022 Second Edition.

This review of the First Edition was originally published on the Pneuma Foundation (parent organization of PneumaReview.com) website. Later included in the Fall 2022 issue.

It is well established that knowledge without application is fruitless. Additionally, it is well understood that one can know of a subject, but not really know it. In the twenty-first century, it is critical that Christians learn not only about culture, but also how to interact with culture. The title currently under review attempts to set forth ideas of how Christians are to relate with contemporary culture. Foundational to any attempt to interact with culture is the hermeneutical understanding of texts and trends within that culture.

Usually, students, theologians, and pastors are well-trained in the task of biblical exegesis, but when it comes to understanding culture, there is often a great disconnect. In the second title under review, Kevin J. Vanhoozer (Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School), Charles A. Anderson, and Michael J. Sleasman, edit essays that seek to explore the area of cultural exegesis – that is, reading and interpreting the texts and trends produced by culture. This title, Everyday Theology, is the first volume in a new Cultural Exegesis series. Each volume is intended to work within a specific cultural discipline, illustrating and embodying the theory behind cultural engagement. By providing the appropriate tools and methodology, this series seeks to equip the reader to engage and interpret the surrounding culture responsibly.

This book is intended to be used by Christians; it is the result of four years of coursework by the students of Vanhoozer, meaning that each chapter (following the excellent introduction by Vanhoozer) is a revised version of term papers submitted to Vanhoozer in his “Cultural Hermeneutics” class at TEDS. It is comprised of four parts: 1) an introduction that sets out the methodology to be employed, 2) essays that employ the methodology to interpret specific cultural texts, 3) essays that attempt to make sense of more complex trends and movements, and 4) a postscript that essentially summarizes the preceding chapters and leads the reader step-by-step through the interpretation process. The purpose of the book is to teach Christians to get the theological lay of the cultural land.

More specifically, in the introduction Vanhoozer proposes that we understand the world in, behind, and in front of a cultural text (drawing from Adler). Thereafter, one will find a series of essays that engage cultural texts and trends, from the gospel according to Safeway, the music of Eminem, the historical context in which the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights took shape, an exploration of Church architecture, the phenomenon of Internet blogs, to the transhumanist movement. As this selective list indicates, the essays herein are diverse and appealing.

Vanhoozer’s essay alone is worth the price of the entire text. Moreover, I appreciate the sidebars throughout the texts that contain editorial comments that unite the individual essays to the overall content of the title. Although most of this text is usable for every-day life, there is a significant reservation of my own, however. I am a theologian who uses the theological jargon, but most readers, presumably, of Everyday Theology will be just that – everyday people. As such, some of the terminology used by Vanhoozer will be cumbersome (e.g., he employs the terms locutionary, perlocutionary, and illocutionary to communicate his framework in the introduction). I find that this perceived flaw is limited to Vanhoozer’s essay, however. In sum, one will not go wrong in reading this title, as it highlights a burgeoning area of theological inquiry: cultural exegesis and hermeneutics. With it, may we go forth, crossing borders and doing everyday theology.

Reviewed by Bradford McCall

Editor’s note: Bradford McCall’s review of Everyday Theology was originally published on September 14, 2010 on the In Depth Resources page of the Pneuma Foundation website and later added to the Winter 2022 issue. Michael Muoki Wambua’s review of Everyday Theology was published in the Fall 2010 issue of Pneuma Review.

Fowler and Kuebler have offered us a gem by publishing this volume. Not since my undergraduate degree in the study of Biology have I encountered such an objective treatment of data from the biological world. Fowler and Kuebler offer the reader, trained academicians and laypeople alike, a balanced, in-depth, and critical study of the evolutionary controversy. Scientifically accurate and precise, yet readable by the masses, this volume is to be promoted for both those within the Science and Religion debate, as well as those outside of it within the general church. Fowler and Kuebler give a concise review of the history of the evolutionary argument, the evidence in favor of it, the evidence which is seemingly contradictory of it, as well as an in-depth coverage of the major points of dispute (e.g., common descent versus common design, the ability of random mutations to generate authentically new information, the sole adequacy of natural selection, the age of the earth/universe, and the requirements for a true scientific theory). Moreover, Fowler and Kuebler delineate the four major schools of thought regarding the evolutionary controversy: the Neo-Darwin advocates, the Intelligent Design proponents, the Creationists, and the promoters of the Meta-Darwinian interpretation. Fowler and Kuebler gave a quite lucid summary of the three general meanings of evolution, which the readers of Pneuma Review would be wise to understand and be able to distinguish: Historical Evolution (i.e., the observed sequence of development over the earth’s history, which is accepted fully by all four schools of thought, though the time parameters involved are different for the Creationist school of thought); Common Descent (i.e., the notion that all organism are somehow related to a common ancestor or a group of common ancestors, which is similarly though qualified accepted by all four schools of thought); and Strong Darwinian Evolution (i.e., the notion that purely natural mechanisms are fully able to explain all of the development of species upon earth, which is only accepted by the Neo-Darwinians and Meta-Darwinians). Fowler and Kuebler make explicit throughout their analyses of the four schools of thought several key distinctions, including the difference between facts and the explanation of facts, the difference between theory and fact, and the difference between criticisms of one theory and advocacy of an alternative theory (i.e., positive apologetics and negative apologetics). The authors thoroughly analyze the Neo-Darwinian paradigm, which seeks to explain evolution through the mechanisms of random mutation and natural selection alone, and conclude that this paradigm can adequately explain small-scale change (i.e., microevolution), but is deficient in explaining large-scale evolution (i.e., macroevolution). Fowler and Kuebler note that there is little direct evidence that the Neo-Darwinian paradigm can explain all evolutionary change. In covering the Creationist school of thought, the authors note that according to the Creationists, natural selection can only adapt populations to their environment, and that mutation, according to the Creationists, leads only to degenerative speciation. Fowler and Kuebler are explicit in noting the difficulties faced by the Creationist school of thought, particularly in trying to condense the history of the universe into roughly 10,000 years. However, they do not, contra many other treatments of Creationists in the available literature today, ridicule the Creationist viewpoint.

Exploring Theology is a compilation of three books originally written by Clarence H. Benson (1879-1954), who helped found the Evangelical Training Association in 1930 and was a Presbyterian minister for many years. The three-in-one volume is compiled and edited by Robert J. Morgan. Exploring Theology begins with God, exploring his nature, character, and work. The first five chapters regard the Father, the next seven chapters regard the Son, and the following two chapters within the first section regard the Spirit. Readers of The Pneuma Review will immediately notice that the explicit coverage of the Spirit in no manner equals that of either the Son or the Father. Perhaps this thin coverage is attributable to Benson’s Presbyterian/Reformed roots, which seemingly emphasizes the Son’s role within the Trinity at the expense of the other members of the Godhead. Nevertheless, in the two chapters covering the Spirit, one will find numerous assertions that are agreeable and welcomed by those who value the contemporary ministry of the Spirit. For example, Benson highlights that the Spirit has the characteristics of personhood, including intelligence, purpose, and activity. Moreover, Benson notes that the Son himself recognizes the Spirit as a person in that Christ uses personal pronouns in referring to the Spirit. Additionally attesting to the personhood of the Spirit, Benson notes that the Spirit is mentioned within the baptismal formula in Matt. 18:19 and in the benediction by Paul in 2 Cor. 13:14. Further, Benson highlights that the Spirit speaks to believers, prays to the Father for believers, guides believers, commands believers, and teaches believers, actions that clearly point to the personhood of the Spirit. Most importantly, Benson notes, the Spirit empowers believers to live lives that are in accordance with God the Father’s will. So then, despite the somewhat paltry coverage of the Spirit, this text nonetheless contains a helpful explanation of the Trinity.

Compiler and editor, Robert J. Morgan

In the second of the three books included within this volume, Benson provides a concise and pointed presentation of twelve basic beliefs that serve to separate Christianity from other religious faiths. In the third book included within this volume, Benson examines and depicts the historical and physical evidence for the Christian faith by elucidating the creation of the world, Christ’s resurrection, prophecy fulfilled by the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth, and the historical reliability of the Bible.

At the end of each chapter there are discussion questions and application points for readers to ponder, which is well-suited for use in small group studies. Overall, this volume is logical and accessible in its presentation of systematic theology and apologetics from a Reformed theological perspective. That this writer is Reformed in theology (i.e., Calvinistic) may be of importance to some of the readers of The Pneuma Review. His Reformed perspective, for example, influences his argumentation for propitiation (appeasement) in reference to Jesus’ sacrificial atonement, his support of verbal plenary inspiration of the Bible (i.e., that every word of the Bible is exactly what God desires it to be), as well as advocating predestination. One will likewise find within this book dated references to generally perceived Fundamentalist theologians, but this aspect is to be expected because of its original composition date. All in all, I recommend this book for readers of The Pneuma Review.

Reviewed by Bradford McCall

Publisher’s page: https://www.crossway.org/books/exploring-theology-tpb/

This review was originally published on the In Depth Resources index of the Pneuma Foundation website on May 23, 2008. The Pneuma Foundation is the parent organization of PneumaReview.com.

D. H. Williams (PhD, University of Toronto) is professor of religion in patristics and historical theology at Baylor University. He is the author of Evangelicals and Tradition and Retrieving the Tradition and Renewing Evangelicalism and editor of The Free Church and the Early Church. Tradition, Scripture, and Interpretation is the second volume in the Evangelical Ressourcement series, which is grounded in the belief that there is a wealth of theological, exegetical, and spiritual resources from the patristic era that is relevant for the Christian church today, as well as the church of the future. This series aims to help church thinkers and leaders reappropriate ancient understandings of Christian belief, amid the current resurgence in interest in the early church, and apply these ancient understandings to ministerial foci in the twenty-first century. Readers of the series will see how Scripture and the early tradition were both necessary in the formulation of orthodoxy, that there is a reciprocal relationship between the life of the church and theology, and that the liberty of the Spirit in contemporary believers must be balanced by a continuity with church tradition. If these three things are done, it seems, the Protestant church could truly be considered the church catholic (i.e., universal).

In keeping with the dictum of Wesley that ‘true, genuine Christianity [directs] us to the strongest evidence of the Christian doctrine’, this sourcebook gathers key writings from the first through sixth centuries on various topics of concern to the church that illustrate the ways in which its confessions and worship were expressed during that time. The writings are arranged thematically into nine areas, including the rule of faith, baptismal formulations and instruction, creeds, and biblical interpretation. Within each theme, the writings are arranged chronologically, which reveals how the Christian tradition has developed over time. Explanatory notes by Williams provide historical background and theological context for each reading. In what follows, I shall point out some prominent points from Williams’ text.

Williams opens the proverbial anthology with an expansive introduction, entitled ‘Origins of Christian Tradition’, that examines the close interplay between Scripture and tradition in the thinking of the early church. He asserts that the early fathers would have known nothing of the contention of sola scriptura, as it was incomprehensible to isolate the bible from the tradition of the church (he recognizes that the bible is foremost a book of the church, for what the church believed was ‘canonical’ before the bible was codified). This integral association of the bible and church tradition need not be understood as a squelching of the Spirit, however, for the Spirit is present throughout both the bible and church tradition, Williams notes (18). It could be said, then, that the bible (revelation) and tradition are two sides of the same coin. Indeed, there is a co-inherence in this symbiotic (reciprocal) relationship. Scripture could be portrayed as the anchor, whereas tradition is the interpreter (cf. 27).

Neil B. MacDonald (PhD, University of Edinburgh) is currently a lecturer in theology at the University of Surrey Roehampton in London. Academic specialization can lead to a lack of communication among closely related disciplines, with theology and biblical studies being a case in point. MacDonald attempts to bridge these two disciplines with help from analytic philosophy. So then, this volume is an attempt by a non-evangelical to overcome the barriers between biblical studies, philosophy and systematic theology.

Within this volume, MacDonald covers a broad range of theologians and philosophers, including Aristotle, Anselm, Augustine, and N. T. Wright, though he approaches theology from a broadly Barthian perspective. MacDonald seeks to bridge systematic theology of the Old Testament with systematic theology of the New Testament, and he does so by illustrating the God of Israel as essentially a judging, yet desisting, and forbearing entity. This judging, yet desisting, and forbearing God reveals himself in creation, in the Exodus, in primeval history, in Deuteronomistic history, and ultimately within the Gospel narrative.

MacDonald insists that thinking about God in terms of divine identity is more profitable for a comprehensive systematic theology than is thinking about God in terms of the patristic concept of ousia (i.e., substance). MacDonald believes that it is only by understanding the Old and New Testaments in terms of the identity of the God of Israel – and the historical man Jesus of Nazareth – that systematic theology can be done. Thus, MacDonald argues that the heart of systematic theology is a God who is self-determining. In so arguing, MacDonald asserts that God creates whatever is necessary for the existence of events other than himself. In this way of thinking, God created time and space by determining himself to be the creator time and space. Therefore, MacDonald argues that God creates out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo). In so arguing, MacDonald suggests that God’s self-determining self is a sufficient cause (read that very slowly…). This idea will likely find many supporters within the readership of The Pneuma Review.

However, MacDonald does posit some ideas that may conflict with the readers of The Pneuma Review. For example, he strongly asserts that every sub-discipline within the biological sciences – genetics, molecular biology, immunology, general medicine, and so on – cannot function either theoretically or experimentally without the theory of genetical evolution via natural selection (better known as Neo-Darwinism). Moreover, MacDonald intimates that humanity is imago dei (i.e., in the image of God) only by happenstance, as any relational creature could have been such – if decreed by God – no matter what their natural properties may have turned out to be. In so defining the image of God, MacDonald disregards centuries of scholars and laypeople alike who have thought of the imago dei as consisting of some type of rationality or righteousness.

All in all, MacDonald does a good job of drawing the salvation work of God together in both testaments and firmly integrates Christian salvation history with Jewish scriptural traditions, though he fails to overcome the classic problems of natural theology by inadequately defining the somewhat vague and ambiguous term “determines.” However, MacDonald is not convincing in arguing that God possesses both time and space, nor that the classical view of God as outside of space and time represents a limit upon his freedom.

Reviewed by Bradford McCall

Originally published on the Pneuma Foundation (parent organization of PneumaReview.com) website on May 23, 2008.

Amos Yong is professor of theology and mission and director of the Center for Missiological Research at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California. His other books include The Spirit Poured Out on All Flesh (2005), Theology and Down Syndrome (2007), and Hospitality and the Other (2015). One might ask what qualifications – if any – an able-bodied man has to write about disability. Yong answers this concern by noting his own experience being a brother of a man who suffers from trisomy-21, otherwise known as Down syndrome. As such, he has manifold practical experience in working with those who are disabled. As a man who is himself intellectually disabled, although I function at a relatively high level (I suffered a traumatic brain injury in 1995), I welcome Yong’s re-visioning and re-interpretation of the relevant biblical texts that concern the topic of disability, even though that term is anachronistically applied to the bible itself.

This is Yong’s first venture into a full-fledged book about biblical theology. The present title could be aptly seen as a biblically oriented complement to his more theologically minded title from 2005, Theology and Down Syndrome. This title is about disability, from beginning to end. However, it is also about the church. More than that, it is about what it means to “be” and “do” the church in light of the experience of disability. Building on the primal work in Theology and Down Syndrome in which Yong approached the intersection of theology and disability from an explicit theological perspective as a systematic theologian, addressing questions that spanned the theological loci of the doctrine of creation, providence, the person of Christ, and theological anthropology, this present book furthers his insights into how we as the corporate people of God might revise negative theological understandings of disability with the goal of creating a more hospitable and inclusive world for those who are afflicted with disablement. The present book differs in a number of manners, however. For example, whereas Theology and Down Syndrome was intended for theologically minded audiences, the present book is aimed at a more popular audience, with Yong foreseeing this text being the topic of group bible studies and religious education, to name just a couple of uses. Additionally, whereas Theology and Down Syndrome deployed theological modes of argumentation, the present book is primarily concerned with biblical interpretation. Third, the present book explicitly discusses the “so then” aspect of application, whereas Theology and Down Syndrome was largely theoretical. If Theology and Down Syndrome could be seen as being designed to change the way we think about disability, one might say that this present text is designed to transform the way we live with disability both practically and – especially – ecclesially.

Yong makes several affirmations that are important and relevant to readers of Pneuma Review. For example, he asserts that people with disabilities are created in the image of God, which is measured by the personhood of Christ, and not our understandings of normalcy. Additionally, he avers that people with disabilities are people first, meaning that they are not to be defined by their disability. Third, he contends that disabilities are not necessarily evil or blemishes to be avoided and eliminated, but that instead people with disabilities (I resonate with this assertion) are constituted by their disabilities, and thus to remove them from their disablement would be to remove an intrinsic part of their identity.

In sum, Yong proposes a new “portrait” for what it means to be the whole people of God that both values and is inclusive of those who are marked by disablement. He suggests a “charismatic fellowship” of the Spirit that both blesses and is blessed by people with disabilities. Pointedly, he addresses what it means to be the church if we are to go beyond the damning dichotomy that renders so many of us disabled individuals on the periphery of society. Yong views the bible as a source of redemption for the experience of disability.

Reviewed by Bradford McCall

Publisher’s page: http://www.eerdmans.com/Products/6608/the-bible-disability-and-the-church.aspx

Kevin J. Vanhoozer is Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He is the author of many books, several of which are recent works, including Remythologizing Theology: Divine Action, Passion and Authorship (Cambridge University Press, 2012), and Faith Speaking Understanding: Performing the Drama of Doctrine (Westminster John Knox Press, 2014). Daniel J. Treier is Blanchard Professor of Theology at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. He is the author of three books, including Virtue and the Voice of God: Toward Theology as Wisdom (Eerdmans, 2006) and Introducing Theological Interpretation of Scripture (Baker Academic, 2008), and Proverbs & Ecclesiastes (Brazos Press, 2011).

The present situation of theology in general calls for a fresh, galvanizing account of the ways in which evangelical theology can, and should, “mirror” the teaching of Scripture. In spite of contemporary trends toward fragmentation and factionalism, these authors assert that we can preserve the elusive center of evangelical theology, and perhaps even redeem the label, by retrieving the original meaning of it. The most basic boundaries marking the way of this healthy center is formed around a theologically faithful, ecclesiastically habitable approach to Scripture and doctrine. This book seeks to do just that. Evangelicalism, in their understanding, refers to a guiding hope and eschatological reality, not an already-accomplished achievement.

Perceptions that evangelicalism is crumbling or chaotic reflect at least four recent developments, which identify challenges that any evangelical theology must address: 1) more robust academic engagement, 2) an increased awareness of the tradition in the creeds, texts, and practices of early Christianity, 3) an interest in global Christianity, and 4) interfaces with emergent Christianity and culture. A central challenge for evangelical theology involves pursuing newfound engagement with different traditions, as the era of Reformed hegemony is now over (35). While the doctrine of the Trinity, and God’s self-revelation by Word and Spirit are vital components of evangelical theology, the doctrines of Scripture and the Holy Spirit increasingly reveal rather than resolve differences within the large evangelical umbrella.